Hard Times
by FlowerofAdversity
Summary: Even mobsters must face the reality that the economy makes it hard on *all* of us, and the mafia is beginning to fade into antiquity. Rated M for some mature language and some sexual content.


_Hard Times _

_Note: After an absence of Sopranos related tales, this story focuses on the good that 'bad guys' can do in an ailing society and they too realize that the underground isn't as feared as it once was, let alone as prevalent. _

"_It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."--opening lines from __A Tale of Two Cities _

_Chapter 1--Down on His Luck _

_I wasn't expecting Giovanni to move in with his girlfriend. Tatiana and I had begun living a fairly quiet existence. That is if you rule out the fact that I happen to be one of the slickest assassins known to the underground. I'm only known as "Smoking Gun". Silvio's son Arturo is only second to me, but only in the Bing do we wise guys go knocking about numbers in how many dumb mofos we frag on a daily basis. I haven't spilled any blood recently, and I preferred it to remain this way. _

_Joey LaRocca, who was responsible for black market drug and gun deals was seeing quite a decrease in sales. In fact, all of us were feeling the crunch of the reeling market. I knew the shit would start hitting the fan after 9/11 but no one ever wanted to mention the past. My predictions were sadly, coming true more often than not and I was trying not to feel depressed. Unfortunately, my depression began to creep up on me and even Giovanni could sense my change of mood. _

"_Dad, this isn't like you. Snap out of it !", he said, shaking me suddenly. My son had __never_ done such a thing to me before and he even slapped me. I felt the sting of my son's hand upon my cheek and I looked back at him, in disbelief of what had just occurred. I felt as if I had been roused from a nightmare.

"You're right, Gio. I simply need a distraction.", I said, sounding exhausted. It was still midday and sounding tired wasn't like me. Gio suggested I should have a bowling night, just the guys and myself. Gio'd go off on his own and try booking a gig with _Crucifix_ somewhere. He was the determined, stubborn type, just like his old man, so it wouldn't be long until someone realized how talented Giovanni's band was before they let him play for them. As for me, I had some calls to make and some perfect scores to make at the local bowling ally.

Chapter 2--The Hammer

It felt just like old times when I got together with the old crew. Most of the guys had seen better days thanks to the fed up economy but I wasn't complaining. Despite the fact they looked depressed, by the time we were all in the same room, everything became a hell of a lot brighter.

AJ and I were on a team with Silvio, Paulie and Furio. Furio happened to be vacationing in the states, so we had been lucky to catch him on such short notice to bowl with us. From what I heard, Furio killed in the bowling ally, and that was no lie. So I was feelin' pretty damned lucky with him on my team. Everything went according to plan, especially the way I was able to talk the pretty bartenders up front into giving us free liquor and eats. I wasn't the one getting shit-faced, though. I knew better, so I simply stuck to nachos and Mountain Dew for the entirety of the night.

The evening was flawless until some punk calling himself "The Hammer" wanted to make a name for himself. He was with some rogue gang that had no clout within the underworld. He was from one of those street gangs that though mingling with the mafia would earn him notoriety. I felt sorry for this fat imbecile and how 'tough' he thought he was. Suddenly, he decided to get rough with me, which was a bad call. I hadn't fought with anyone or raised my voice in years since anger management but this fer simply wouldn't stop antagonizing me.

"You're not so tough, you pussy.", he vehemently stated, pushing me. "Don't push me, dork.", I threatened.

"Or what, you cocksucker ?", the Hammer retorted, cockily.

"You've embarrassed yourself enough tonight, Hammer. I would suggest running home to your little gang, or better yet, run home to mama.", I said, as I started to walk away. Little did I know that Hammer had a chair and hit me over the back of my head with it. Fortunately the chair was poorly manufactured, because it went to pieces when it hit me. I turned around and looked at the splinters in my body, which hurt, but not enough to matter.

"Do you realize what you just did to my favorite tracksuit, you prick ?!", I shouted as I came at him, landing a swift uppercut to his jaw. He stammered back and went through a table, completely knocked out. The rest of his cronies stood there, freaking out until they picked him up by both arms and clamored in some language I wasn't familiar with and scampered off.

"Who were those dumb fs ?", Paulie asked, glad that the village idiots had departed.

"Some dumb-ass gang-bangers.", Silvo spat. Furio, who wasn't really bothered by anything that had happened went right back to the game at hand and our team won out against AJs again.

"Next time, let _me_ have Furio on _my_ team.", AJ said, feeling a bit sore from being on the losing team _again. _

"Don't worry, Ton'. I am a generous guy.", I said, clapping my hand on his shoulder. As soon as the ally closed, we were escorted out politely and started on our way back home.

Chapter 3--Alms for the Poor

While we were on our trek home, we noticed some homeless people begging in the streets. It's not that we hadn't noticed them before, but now more than ever, we were seeing how difficult it was for them day in and day out. With the weather what it was, it was no wonder many of these unfortunate souls died thanks to hypothermia. What really broke my heart was seeing little children suffering. Some of these undeserving innocents were no more than 3 weeks old. They hadn't even had time to adjust from the comfort of their mother's own womb to the harsh, bitter chill of the winter wind. I wasn't about to stand for it. Comparable to the poor, I was a rich man and I had more than enough money to give without feeling a kick to my wallet.

"Why are we stopping ?", Joey questioned, noticing how quickly the van cooled off thanks to the frigid air.

"There are people here that need us. Isn't it time we did something for someone else for a change ? I mean…come on. We're thugs and all. But we have souls. Consciences.", I said, feeling my ire build. I didn't get angry about _anything _much anymore, but seeing this really pissed me off.

"Our wives will be furious if we get home late.", Silvio mentioned with some fear to his tone.

"Screw that. Chrissy has a point. We can always make it up to them later.", Paulie said, tousling up my hair. We gathered all of our money together and helped as many people as we could. By the time we had finished, day was breaking and all our cell phones were ringing off the hook.

"We're all pussy whipped, and we know it.", AJ breathed sorrowfully. I knew he was right, but at least I knew we had women at home that loved us more than life itself.

Chapter 4--Goodwill

After what I had seen that night, I kept having nightmares of the faces I had seen. There had been so many people we had been unable to help and it haunted me that they were still roaming the streets, begging for help of any kind. Some of them, tragically, I knew were already dead, but I had no control over their fate. Other people simply passed them by, but it was understandable. Everyone was hurting these days. But I thought that was a lame excuse.

Even though I realized that our syndicate would be entering 'enemy territory', I decided that all Mafiosi would take what they didn't want or need and donate it to the nearest Goodwill, or better yet, take the money they didn't spend (and for the typical goomba, this was a harsh parting) and give it to reputable charities. Granted, there were _shitloads_ of organizations that were taking advantage of gullible people that didn't have money to spend, but we knew which ones were legit. With little effort we began a covert operation simply called "Hands" that went out into the fray of lesser-fortunate people and did what we would to help. We would only make a ding in the bowl of poverty, but at least there were fewer unemployed people meandering the cities without a purpose.

Chapter 5--What of 'Our' Future

We took shifts each week to go forth and do our good deeds as the economy slowly crawled back to being somewhat stable. I knew that it wouldn't be until a few more years before everything became sustainable and obtainable. The underground wasn't what it once was, and I had heard of big wigs going down after getting caught by the fed and I prayed, "God, please don't let me be one of these unlucky shmucks". For the most part, we had been saved but sooner or later I knew that I would have to come clean. At least for now, Giovanni had been able to go back on tour and _Crucifix_ had been doing better than ever. His music was reaching a vaster audience thanks to Youtube being accessed more in a daily fashion.

During the weekend, the guys and I would go out for our usual bowling ally retreat, go shooting in the range, paintball each others asses until they were sore and stinging, or just lounge by the pool when the weather got a bit hotter. If Paulie was in charge, it was always a trip to the Bing where I had to see my goomar, Vanilla. To this day, I have never once had sex with her. Unlike Paulie or Joey, I don't dip my wick into any piece of tail that comes wagging my way.

Epilogue 

The face of the mafia was changing, slowly, deliberately. I could see we were a 'gang' that was once so heavily feared that normal people wouldn't even mutter 'mafia' without an audible shiver following thereafter. Even names like the Triad amongst other syndicates were getting nothing if lighthearted giggles. It was enough to make me wanna puke. My dad would've never wanted it to end like this, but there wasn't much we could do. It was coming to an end of a grand era for the bosses like myself. We would go through with our rituals until the old ways had become absorbed into the fabric of modernity. A tragic way to die, but frankly, I was glad to start living a normal life. True, I could never wash the blood off my hands that I had shed so many years ago before I had become made. Those faces would continue to haunt me and no amount of confessing I did.

Even though I sleep easily tonight, I always have my 33 revolver tucked away in my nightstand. Too many years of being Don and knowing one day it might end with one of my own goombas whacking me has always made me fin paranoid but who's to say they ain't comin' out to get me ? I don't know really. All I know is I am older, wiser, have aged well like a fine wine, and damn, it feels good to have a good lookin' woman with her arms wrapped around you so tightly you can hear the beating of her tremendous heart. Nothing else matters; love is the only constant.

Last recorded by Christopher "Smoking Gun" Moltisanti, Junior

Whereabouts: Unknown

Last seen: Unknown

Dead or living: Unknown


End file.
